A/HRC/26/31 increased the shelf life of such foods and reduced transportation costs, making them more profitable. 7. The 1980s “structural adjustment programmes” of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank compelled developing countries to open up their markets, including the food sector, to foreign trade as a part of loan fulfilling conditions. Agreements negotiated at the World Trade Organization sought further market integration by reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade, curtailing export subsidies and removing protections of domestic industry to promote the freer flow of goods and services.18 These policies were implemented as a means of increasing the efficiency of the food system in producing the foods that people needed and wanted, but they had significant effects on the types of available foods and their costs. As a result, there has been a drastic increase in production of certain products relative to others. For example, there was a substantial increase in the global production of vegetable oils such as partially hydrogenated soybean oil, a source of trans-fats, and palm oil, a source of saturated fats.19 Similarly, grains such as corn are produced in larger quantities to cater to the food processing industry to produce sweeteners like high-fructose corn syrup, substantially increasing global calorie consumption from such sweeteners (A/HRC/19/59, pp. 13–14). Studies show that countries adopting market deregulation policies experience a faster increase in unhealthy food consumption and mean body mass index, an indicator of obesity.20 In furthering the goals of market expansion and profits, critical focus areas of health such as diets and nutrition have not been given due consideration.21 8. Rise in levels of FDI in the processed foods sector is one such factor that allows for greater exposure to unhealthy foods in low- and middle-income countries.22 FDI is one of the mechanisms by which TNCs enter developing countries. FDI enables companies to purchase or invest in food-processing companies in other countries, which then produce processed foods for the domestic market. This circumvents import tariffs on processed foods and reduces the cost of transportation. FDI has been more crucial than trade in increasing sales of processed foods in developing countries.23 For example, in some emerging markets, the processed food industry is amongst the top sectors attracting FDI.24 Most of the sales for popular soft drink and fast food brands also come from developing countries.25 9. Supermarkets and large food chains have largely replaced fresh food markets as a major source of food supply in most countries,26 and at a faster rate in developing than 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 6 Corinna Hawkes et al., “Linking agricultural policies with obesity and noncommunicable diseases: a new perspective for a globalising world”, Food Policy , vol. 27 (2012), pp. 344–345. Ibid., p. 345. Roberto De Vogli et al., “The influence of market deregulation on fast food consumption and body mass index: a cross-national time series analysis”, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol. 92 (2014), pp. 99–107A. “Diets, nutrients and noncommunicable diseases” (see footnote 7 above), p. 148. “Manufacturing epidemics” (see footnote 10 above), p. 5. Corinna Hawkes, “The role of foreign direct investment in the nutrition transition”, Public Health Nutrition, vol, 8, No. 4 (2005), pp. 357–365. Kakali Majumdar, “Foreign direct investment in Indian food processing industry”, Asian Journal of Research in Business Economics and Management , vol. 2, No. 4 (April 2012), p.113. Available from http://www.aijsh.org/setup/business/ paper139.pdf. Corinna Hawkes, “Marketing activities of global soft drink and fast food companies in emerging markets: a review”, Globalization, Diets and Noncommunicable Diseases (Geneva, WHO, 2002), p. 1. Barry M. Popkin et al., “The global nutrition transition and the pandemic of obesity in developing countries”, Nutrition Reviews, vol. 70, No. 1 (2012), p. 8.